Familiar Relations
by Starship Artisan
Summary: Oneshot- Living in her father's shadow, Janine never knew how to cope with Koga's fame. Soon, she realizes that she isn't the only one who is going through this problem. Falkner/Janine Fatherlyshipping ; Gamebased.


A/N: I was terribly bored during an assembly at school, and somehow I thought of this. It ended up turning out a little differently than I expected...

This story is gamebased, and I did look some things up for certain scenes; courtesy of Bulbapedia~

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

Ever since she was a young girl, everything was about her father. Being a gym leader brought him a ton of fame, no matter which region you were in. She remembers seeing trainers from all over, anywhere from Kanto to Unova, but mostly from Kanto and Johto. One of the most notable trainers that she saw was the one known as Red. He was a legend, and he had battled against her father and won.

Janine actually met him that day in the safari zone. She had told him about who her father was, but he just regarded her stoically—she wasn't horribly offended since she heard that he is a boy of few words. She remembers going home that day and her father tells her about how an amazing trainer that he battled, and she tells him about how she met Red and saw him with her own eyes. This was before he had become well known as one of the best trainers ever, and she only wished that she herself could have faced off against him.

"You know," he said to her as they ate supper that night, "I'm sure with some practice that you could be even better than that boy."

"You think so?" She asked skeptically.

"I know so." Koga smiled and gave her a pat on the shoulder, causing her to smile.

"Thanks, Dad!"

* * *

She was in shock.

It all started when she went out to check the mail that fateful afternoon. She flipped through the unopened letters, all of them addressed to her father. As she flipped through them, one in particular caught her eye.

This was for Koga, and it had the familiar stamp that belonged to none other than the Pokémon League.

'This is strange.' She thought as her eyes raked over the letter, 'They never send us letters…' Worry overtook her thoughts, she hoped that her father wasn't being fired or anything…

Janine took the letter inside and wordlessly handed it to her father as he was getting ready to leave.

"What's this?" He questioned.

"I'm not sure, but it's addressed from the Pokémon League to you."

"Hm, so it is." He took it and opened it silently and read the contents. The corners of his mouth flicked upwards into that of a smirk, "Look's like I've been promoted." Surprised flickered across her face and she tried to comprehend what he had said.

"What do you mean?"

"_The Pokémon League requests that Koga has been reassigned to the position of Elite Four at the Indigo Plateau,_" He read to his shocked daughter, "_If you choose to accept this offer, you may select who you would like to take over your gym, respectively._" He looked at her expectedly, "I need someone to take over the gym, would you be interested?"

"Wait, you're leaving? Just like that?"

"Sure, why not." He replied nonchalantly, "Don't you want to be a gym leader?"

"Well, yes… But then I won't get to see you as much, and besides, I'm not even that good of a trainer." She mumbled quietly and his expression softened.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine. I'll come back and visit, I promise," he said reassuringly, "and besides, I won't be going until I tell them that I've accepted, that gives us plenty of time to get ready."

"I guess you're right…"

"That's the spirit! Now, how about we do some training to prep you for being a gym leader?"

She smiled, "Okay."

* * *

The house felt so empty when he was gone. When Janine came home from the gym, she was always met with the silence that was her home. Her childhood dream may have been to take over her father's gym, but only when he retired so that she wasn't so… alone…

The thought made her grimace; her dream has made her miserable—how ironic. Not only is she alone, but people constantly ask about her father—both the locals and foreigners. The locals genuinely cared and missed Koga, and the foreigners wanted to battle him, which is why she gets annoyed at the incredulous looks she gets when she tells them that _she_ is the gym leader of Fuchsia City.

Then again, those people were usually the cocky idiots who she pounded into the ground with her strong Pokémon. There were few trainers like that who actually defeated her, but it was always a very close battle.

Needless to say, annoying and cocky or not, anyone inquiring about her father was tiresome. There were of course a few exceptions.

It didn't bother her as much when fellow gym leaders asked for some reason. She figured it was because they worked with him and it's okay to care.

* * *

Today was an interesting day. She remembers how her father used to tell her about the gym leader workshops that occurred every few years, and this was her very first one to attend. Janine was incredibly nervous, mostly because she was still relatively new to this, and she hadn't actually met her fellow trainers. Koga had only told her about them, and they seemed nice, but intimidating in the way that he described them.

Of course, now she got to see for herself.

She held her head high, even though she was scared as she walked into the large meeting room where she had been directed to go.

There were many people there from far and wide. All of the gym leaders and Elite Four members from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova were to be gathered in one large room.

Janine's eyes swiftly searched around the room, looking for her father and any other familiar faces. She only knew the faces of a few gym leaders and Elite Four from Kanto, but none of their names—aside from Koga's, of course. She soon spotted the familiar dark and spiky hair of her father, and she casually made her way over to him where he was speaking to a large man with blond hair. She knew that she had seen him before, but she could not put a name to the face.

"Oh, Janine," Koga said suddenly, breaking his daughter's thoughts, "I'm glad that you made it here safely," he said gruffly, and motioned to the other man, "this is Lt. Surge, gym leader of Vermillion City." They both reached out and shook hands; Surge's face remained stoic.

"Pleased to meet you—Janine, was it?" The tall man said politely, she nodded with a small smile of courtesy. "Well, it was nice speaking to you, Koga, and congratulations on becoming one of the elite." Koga nodded and murmured a 'thank you'; the blond man turned around and walked away towards another group of gym leaders.

"Would you like me to tell you who people are?" He asked her quietly.

"Yes, thank you."

"Okay, well you see that girl over there with the dark hair?" He pointed towards Erika, "She is the gym leader of Celadon city; her name is Erika." Janine let out a hum, showing that she was listening.

"That man over there is Wake." He pointed to the burly man who looked like a professional wrestler. Koga pointed out and described most gym leaders and Elite Four members, and she listened to his words intently. Finally, he pointed towards the boy with blue hair and a Pidgey sitting on his shoulder obediently.

"That's Falkner, gym leader of Violet City, which is in the Johto region." He explained; Janine nodded once again. "You should talk to him, his father used to run his gym, and we were very good friends." Koga suggested, and Janine walked over to him reluctantly at her father's request—not because she secretly wanted to—oh gosh no. He was speaking with a girl that had pink hair held in small pig tails; Whitney was it? Janine tapped Falkner on the shoulder, and as he turned around, she saw that two pairs of eyes were on her.

"Hi!" Whitney squealed at the other girl, "You must be new! I'm Whitney!"

'_Well she certainly is excited…_' Janine thought as the other girl bounded over to stand beside her.

"Falkner." He stuck his hand out and she promptly shook it; he smiled politely in greeting.

"Janine." As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it; Whitney's eyes widened and Janine knew what was coming next.

"You wouldn't happen be Koga's daughter, would you?"

"Uh, yeah. I am…"

"OH MY GOSH! He talks about you all of the time! Did you get the gym when he became a part of the Elite Four?" The pink haired girl went on and on, babbling and bouncing even more than before. Falkner's look didn't change, which surprised Janine.

"Yeah, that's how." Janine mumbled, not wanting to be compared to her father once again.

"You are so lucky! Your dad is so cool and strong! You must be just like him." She exclaimed and began to giggle, Janine frowned, and Falkner didn't add to her banter. Instead he, sensing the irritation, helped by distracting her.

"Hey, Whitney," she turned her attention towards Falkner as he spoke, "Morty looks like he needs help over there, why don't you go see if you can be of aide?" Whitney beamed at him.

"That's a great idea! It was nice meeting you, Janine!" She bounced off towards the unsuspecting Ghost trainer; both Janine and Falkner let out muffled laughter when she surprised him by hugging him from behind, and he visibly jumped.

"Thank you…" She mumbled with relief.

"Don't worry, I know how it is."

She looked at him in surprise, "You do?"

"My dad had the gym before I did, and after he passed it down to me, everyone would ask about him. It got annoying after a while, and I can tell that you don't like it very much." He explained as they both looked around the room. People were still mingling and chatting, and by this point everyone had arrived.

"Again, thank you." She said to him sincerely, and he smiled in return.

"No problem."

They continued to chat and get acquainted, but soon they were ushered to another room for the workshops.

After a few days of workshops and social events, everyone returned to their respected regions just like every other one of these meetings. When Janine arrived home, she couldn't help but smile, especially after meeting someone who understood her—she only wished Falkner lived closer. She sighed to herself as her thoughts continued to wander.

She suddenly couldn't wait for the next one, even if it was a few years away.

* * *

Janine walked up the path to the Indigo Plateau, lunchbox in hand and a determined look on her face. She concluded that she needed to see her father more often, so being the good daughter that she is; she decided to bring lunch for him.

She walked inside and looked around for him in the lobby, but didn't see him anywhere. She sighed, hoping that he hadn't forgotten (it certainly wouldn't be the first time).

The large lobby was very hot that day, so much so that she could hardly stand to be in the room. Tired of the heat, she walked back outside and sat on the large cement steps, and waited. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she heard a voice behind her.

"Janine?"

Wait, that wasn't her father.

When she turned around, she was met face to face with a man in a mask who had violet hair. She quickly recognized him as her father's friend and colleague.

"Will!" She exclaimed, "It's good to see you!"

"Nice to see you too, Janine. Sorry about it being me, but your father was caught up in a battle." He explained to her as he walked over.

"It's okay, I understand." She replied politely and handed the bag to Will who accepted it graciously.

He chuckled, "I don't think that he should have sent me; I'm not sure if I will be able to give this to him without sneaking a bite." He joked playfully, and she gave him a small swat to the arm.

"Yeesh, you haven't changed!"

"I take that as a compliment. Of course, nether have you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I just mean that you're the same Janine that your father won't stop talking about. I swear, Koga can be rather quiet and dry, but as soon as someone mentions you, he won't shut up!" He paused to see Janine staring at him in what looked like disbelieve, and he continued, "I'm serious! He's so proud of you that it's almost crazy; you should be happy to have him." He didn't anticipate her reaction, which was to turn around and leave the building as if it had been on fire.

He brushed it off as her having to go somewhere, but something nagged in his mind that something was wrong.

* * *

It was Monday, only a few days after her encounter with Will—the thought of it made her feel embarrassed that she had just ran away, and she didn't even know why she did that in the first place.

…

Okay, that was a lie. She just didn't want him to see her….emotions. It wasn't upsetting that he talked about her, it was more so because she thought that her father would think of her as a failure more than anything, which was quite the bad assumption on her part.

Hell, she still felt bad about it.

She needed an escape or at least a distraction; staying at home wouldn't help, so she decided to venture outside of Fuchsia City.

Since she figured that she should stock up on supplies anyway, she went to Celadon Mall. It was a nice little place, and was sure to keep her entertained for a few hours. It did help her relax.

Although, she was caught by surprise when somebody called her name as she walked around; she turned and saw no one, and thought that it was just her imagination.

Apparently, it wasn't.

"Janine!" She turned around again, and was faced with a familiar face.

"Falkner?" She was surprised, because didn't he live in Johto? Why would he be here of all places?

"Yeah! What are you doing here?" He questioned, she looked at him funny.

"Me? I just needed to get some things…" Technically, it wasn't a lie, "What about you? Why are you all the way over here?"

He grimaced, "I needed to get away." He said simply. Sensing that he didn't want to talk about it, she refrained from inquiring about his problem.

"Same here," she replied; he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, so she elaborated. "It's just some father issues that I would rather not talk about."

"Ah, okay. I'm sort of going through the same thing…"

"People still bother you about it?" She groaned, "This is going to last forever…" She was surprised when he chuckled.

"You know, I wonder. Which one of us do you think gets it the worst?" He mused aloud, and she scoffed.

"It's obviously me. Seriously, my father is a member of the Elite Four."

"Yes, but not everyone makes it that far—and some don't even get to your gym. I on the other hand am the first one that trainers see." He argued in retort and she gave him a smirk.

"You want a bet?"

"…What's the wager?"

"If I win, you have to admit that my father is better than yours and is more popular. If you win, I will admit that yours is better and more popular."

He pondered for a minute, "Deal. Let's meet back here on next Monday. We have a week to count how many people mention them, and no cheating."

"Deal." They shook hands and gave each other arrogant smirks as they turned and walked away. While they walked, they both smiled to themselves at the thought of their imminent victory.

* * *

Janine sat on the bench rigidly, eyes darting back and forth to see a familiar face. She had been waiting patiently, anticipating the results ever since she got home last Monday. Her tally was quite impressive, and she couldn't wait to see his face.

Finally, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around, she smirked.

"You're late."

"I know; it takes a while to get here, you know."

"Fair enough, now, how many people did you get?"

"Hey, that doesn't seem like a fair way to do this. How about we say them at the same time? Or write them down?"

She rolled her eyes and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket; he gave her a skeptical look.

"I thought it might come to this…" She tore off a piece and handed it to him and produced a pen which he got as well. They quickly wrote down the number on their papers, and on the count of three, they showed the numbers to each other.

"…What!" They said simultaneously as they stared at the papers which bore the exact same number.

"You cheated!" She yelled at him, and he mimicked her expression and yelled back.

"Me? I didn't! It was you!" He accused.

"Hey! That's not true!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes really!"

He scoffed, "Regardless of this stupid bet, my father is still better!"

"Yeah right! My dad is much cooler and you know it, Falkner!"

This banter continued for several hours—literally. People gave them many weird stares, but they were too busy to notice. After the arguing had finally died down, they both left the mall with their heads held high—determined to show the other up on the next Monday with the new bet that they started.

They were both looking forward to it, for they actually enjoyed their friendly banter.

In fact, when they thought about it, their bets made their fathers' fame actually _enjoyable._

…Although they would never admit it out loud.

* * *

A/N: I don't really write much for Pokémon, so any tips would be helpful.

Review's are much appreciated~


End file.
